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World Meteorological Day 2016

23 MARCH

HOTTER

DRIER

WETTER

FACE THE FUTURE

HOTTER

Heatwaves

In 2015 heatwaves affected Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East through the late spring and summer, with many new temperature records set. July brought heat waves to a large area from Denmark in the north, to Morocco in the south and Iran in the east. The heat continued in August and into September, shifting further into Eastern Europe.

DRIER

In 2015 dry areas included Central America and the Caribbean, northeast South America including Brazil, parts of central Europe and Russia, parts of Southeast Asia, Indonesia and southern Africa. In Western North America, long-term drought conditions continued. Basins across the west depend on snowpack as a water resource. On 1 April, the snow water equivalent was 5% of normal.

WETTER

In 2015 areas of high rainfall included: southern areas of the USA, Mexico, Bolivia, southern Brazil, southeast Europe, areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Heavy rain in January led to flooding in Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and in February it affected Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. 2015 saw exceptional seasonal rainfall totals in several parts of Burkina Faso and Mali.

FACE THE FUTURE

Fortunately, the world’s governments are now fully convinced of the scientific evidence of climate change and the need to take urgent action. More research and investment is needed for advancing low-carbon technol- ogies, particularly in the energy sector. But already many policies, technologies and actions are available, and their deployment needs to be scaled up. Individual citizens, community leaders, businesses, civil society organiza- tions, governments and the United Nations system must all contribute.